Washington (CNN) - A moved President Barack Obama on Friday appeared to promise to tackle gun violence in his second term, speaking just hours after a gunman left 20 students and six adults dead at a Connecticut elementary school.

But supporters of tighter gun control measures want to see more: specifics on his call for the country to “come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner has offered to include higher tax rates on the wealthiest Americans as part of a deficit-reduction deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, a source close to the talks confirmed to CNN on Saturday.

The latest twist in the negotiations, first reported by Politico, indicates a possible breakthrough in the protracted efforts to forge a deal to reduce the nation's chronic federal deficits and debt.

(CNN) – Chicago-area Democrats will hold an open primary to select their candidate for the special election to fill the seat left vacant by former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., as officials failed to coalesce around a candidate.

After over an hour of deliberations following 16 candidates making their cases for the party’s endorsement, Democratic leaders of the six Chicago wards and five suburban Cook County townships in the 2nd Congressional District voted for an open primary, according to CNN affiliate WGN in Chicago.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - President Obama has decided to nominate Sen. John Kerry to be the next secretary of state and could make a formal announcement as early as next week, a Democrat who spoke to Kerry told CNN Saturday.

The expected nomination follows U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's decision to withdraw her name from consideration for the post. She dropped out of the running Thursday after weeks of criticism from Republicans about statements she made about the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

(CNN) – In the wake of one of the country’s deadliest mass shootings in Connecticut and the ensuing national conversation over U.S. gun laws, political figures are putting pressure on Washington to take serious action to prevent such tragedies.

A gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday morning and opened fire on teachers and students killing 20 children and six adults. Hours after the shooting, President Barack Obama wiped tears from his eye and said "our hearts are broken today,” calling for “meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this regardless of politics.”

(CNN) - Responding to the deadly mass shooting Friday in Newtown, Connecticut, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said new laws regulating guns won't deter such shootings, linking a lack of religious discussion in the classroom to increased violence in schools.

"We ask why there's violence in our school but we've systematically removed God from our schools," Huckabee said on Fox News. "Should we be so surprised that schools have become such a place of carnage? Because we've made it a place where we don't want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability."FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sustained a concussion after becoming dehydrated and fainting, and will no longer testify Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Clinton had been suffering from a stomach virus at the time, according to a statement on Saturday from Philippe Reines, deputy assistant secretary of state.